When Carl Nordgren was nine he had three ambitions. To be a novelist, a fishing guide, and play shortstop for the Chicago Cubs. He’s two for three.
He started guiding at fifteen, from 1966 to 1971, at a wilderness fishing camp on the English River in Northwestern Ontario and on the White River in the Ozarks. His guests frequently told him to avoid soul sucking nine-to-five jobs; these men were bosses of companies so he believed them. In 1970 the camps in Ontario were closed because of mercury poisoning, stories told in his novels, The 53rd Parallel and Worlds Between; after graduating from Knox College he was a foundry man and factory worker before joining a start up publishing company.
The first time he had an idea that created a new job he was hooked on the creative power of entrepreneurship; he spent thirty years starting companies and helping others start theirs. He was a pioneer in the cellular industry and led two new venture incubators. He’s proud he’s helped create many hundreds of jobs since that first one.
Invited to teach entrepreneurship at Duke in 2002 his course morphed into one that helped students grow their creative capacities and develop their entrepreneurial instincts and behaviors. He taught there for forteen years.
For twenty-five years his calling has been helping us become our most creative selves; he’s the author of Becoming a Creative Genius (again), teaches, and hosts the weekly radio show, Exploring your Creative Genius. His calling now includes helping our nation appreciate the potential of the common ground he’s discovered, common ground proven attractive to the left and right. There we find the most rational and optimistic way to prepare for the future of unknowable unknowns: be the most creative and entrepreneurial people we can be.
This common ground is home to policy ideas and communications strategies for politicians and community leaders to help us accomplish that.
Visit him at http://carlnordgren.com/.
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